Where’s the beach?
By: Roye Salomon
The beaches of Tel Aviv - North
Like in San Sebastian and Barcelona, the meeting place between the city and the sea is the true heart of Tel Aviv, and any visit to Tel Aviv would be incomplete without seeing it. As one who grew up in the landlocked city of Jerusalem, the beaches are the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Tel Aviv. |
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| the meeting place between the city and the sea is the true heart of Tel Aviv, and any visit to Tel Aviv would be incomplete without seeing it. |
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The city boasts great city beaches, each unique in its ambiance and inhabitants. In the summer, the beach is the place to be, with cool water and a refreshing sea breeze. In the winter the weather shapes the water and sand into the best and most dynamic artwork in the city. This is the city boundary where nature can still be felt full force.
The weather in Tel Aviv is well suited for enjoying the beaches. During the summer heat it’s either A.C or the beach, but you can start tanning as soon as March. Even during December and January there are usually a few days when you can play Frisbee in shorts on the beach!! If you are coming from cold Europe you will find the Tel Aviv winter delightful. If you plan of coming to Tel Aviv, bring a bathing suit. All year-round.
The important thing to know about beaches in Tel Aviv is where and when to go. Different beaches attract different crowds and create different experiences. The following section shows listings of Tel Aviv’s beaches from north to south. |
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| Different beaches attract different crowds. |
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Tel Baruch Beach - northernmost Tel Aviv Beach
This beach is actually outside the urban part of the city makes it unique in its natural and relatively unspoiled feel. The beach is wide stretched and sandy, well kept and has ample paid parking. It lingers from the Sede Dov airfield to the south up to the border of Hertzlia in the north. Tel Baruch area used to be notorious for its nighttime prostitution scene, but today it is a nice family oriented beach. This beach has been protected from development due to the small Sede Dov airfield located close by. Today the relocation of that airfield is at hand and there are plans for massive building which will change the face of the area for good. Come get it while it’s still natural.
Metzitzim Beach
The northernmost of Tel Aviv’s city beaches is probably its most urban feeling one. Tucked away near the old city port, and overlooking the Reading chimneys and Sede Dov airfield, Metzitzim has no pretensions of being a nature beach. Even so, this is one of the coolest beaches in Tel Aviv, the queen of the north. Metzitzim (peeping) beach was immortalized in an early seventies cult movie of the same name, and something of that wild bohemian feeling has stuck with the beach. The crowd is young and trendy, a good place to tan and look at beautiful people. There is a run down basketball course on the north side of the beach.
The religious, dog and Hiltons beaches Hof Hadatiyim, Hof Haclavim, Hof Hilton
| Just south of here are three special and small beaches. The first is hof Hadatiyim (the religious beach) which offers separate bathing areas for men and women, day in day out. South of that is a narrow concrete lined beach known as hof haclavim (the dogs beach), where many people bring their dogs over. This is also a good beach for surfing and kayaking when the swell is up. This beach is also known as the Hilton beach. Good for meeting interesting people.
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Gordon-Frishman beach
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This beach is named after the street that leads from it and the salt water pool and marina that boarder it from the north.
This beach is just below the yarkon st. hotels and is about as central as you can get in Tel Aviv. On its northern side is the Gordon salt water pool which is a Tel Aviv monument. Every morning as early as 6:00 you can find many people young and old starting their day with a workout here. This area also houses many small boats in its marina.
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The beach here is very wide and sandy, with a pedestrian boardwalk and a few cafes. During the day this is the hippest place to be in Tel Aviv with beach bars and DJs, volleyball games, and slim tanned bodies swimming and lazing in the sun.
South Tel Aviv Beaches --->
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